Special 26-style raid on Vikhroli bizman’s house

A group of men tried to pull off a Special 26-style heist at a businessman’s house in Vikhroli, till law caught up with them

Mumbai A group of men tried to pull off a Special 26-style heist at a businessman’s house in Vikhroli, till law caught up with them.

Police said, 40-year-old Nita Kamble, the domestic help of the family had tipped off the gang about a large sum kept in the house, which led them to plan the theft (HT Photo)

The Park Site police have arrested four persons and their associates for raiding businessman Mayank Bajaj’s house, in Mayfair Sonata Green building, Hiranandani, Vikhroli (West), posing as Income Tax officers and fleeing with ₹1 lakh cash.

Police said, 40-year-old Nita Kamble, the domestic help of the family had tipped off the gang about a large sum kept in the house, which led them to plan the theft.

The accused arrived dressed in formal clothes and carried fake identity cards with designations of Income Tax officials. They even produced a fake search warrant to the family members before barging into the house, said a police officer.

The arrested accused have been identified as Dheeraj Kamble, Prashant Bhatnagar, Wasim Qureshi and Ejaz Khan. Police officials said the masterminds of the racket -- Nitin Kothari, Nita Kamble, Mariyam Appa and Shamim Khan -- are still at large.

Nita Kamble had been in the Bajajs’ employ for the past six years. Dheeraj Kamble, their driver, worked during the day. The two lived in the same neighbourhood. Dheeraj, police said, met Nitin Kothari, a Dharavi resident, two years ago through a common friend and became friends.

The five suspects -- Kothari, Bhatnagar, Qureshi, Mariyam Appa and Shamim Khan – arrived in an Innova, to action their plan at around 12:05 pm in the last week of July.

They showed the fake search warrant to Bajaj’s mother, as his wife was away at the time. The house was searched and ₹1 lakh found in the locker. While they were at it, the businessman’s wife returned home, whereupon the accused took away her mobile phone, saying the search memorandum would be mailed to the family. The phone was returned to her before they left.

When Bajaj learnt about the raid after returning home, he called up the Income Tax officials and shared the CCTV footage from the house and the building’s premises that had captured the action. On being informed that no such raid was conducted by the department, Bajaj reported the matter to Park Site police station.

Cops scrutinised the CCTV footage and found that the Innova belonged to one Ejaz Khan, who had rented it to Kothari for a day.

Eventually, the involvement of the family’s employees -- Dheeraj and Nita -- surfaced. Dheeraj had passed down the information about the cash stash to Kothari, following which the plan was hatched.

Senior inspector Vinayak Mer, of Park Site police, informed Nita had applied for anticipatory bail to the sessions court, which was rejected. “We have identified all the accused involved in the crime and are trying to trace the remaining four,” added Mer.